


Somewhere Betwixt Enchanted and Bewitched

by FallingLikeThis



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Witcher Fusion, Bard Liam, Bruxae (The Witcher), Fire, Flirting, Harry's kind of an asshole, M/M, Mage Harry, Magic, Monsters, Mutual Pining, Quests, Secrets, Swords, Violence, Witcher Zayn, it's only mentioned and not given a name, mentions of a potentially fatal illness later in the fic, pyrokinesis, sometimes, they're basically womanoid vampires, travelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:33:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26145685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallingLikeThis/pseuds/FallingLikeThis
Summary: Zayn is a witcher, a mutant monster hunter for hire and one of the last of his kind in the world. Liam is the bard who travels with him, singing stories of his victories over the monsters he's slain and trying to help people see witchers in a more positive light than they currently do. In exchange, he gets to experience the tales he sings about, inspiring him to be a better bard. But when a powerful, seductive mage from Zayn's past shows up asking for Zayn's help, they'll both realise there are deeper reasons they keep travelling together. The real trouble is getting one of them to admit it, because facing monsters is nothing compared to facing matters of the heart.
Relationships: Zayn Malik/Harry Styles (past), Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Comments: 9
Kudos: 33
Collections: Ziam Fantasy Fest





	Somewhere Betwixt Enchanted and Bewitched

**Author's Note:**

> Special thank you to my beta, Lynda, who always puts up with me giving her fics to look over at the very last second.  
> Please forgive any errors, I tried to research my Witcher lore, but I still may have gotten things wrong. Also, the Bruxa language is Etruscan (don't worry, it's translated in parenthesis right next to each sentence) and I am willing to bet that the actual Etruscan is terrible. If anyone knows the language, I welcome your advice to fix it and also sorry for putting you through reading it.

  
  


Zayn is used to the stares. His white hair and yellow eyes ensure he’ll get them, but he’s learned to ignore them over the years. He didn’t choose to be given away as a child and made into a mutant monster hunter, but even if he is resentful of the choice being made for him, he can’t argue that the life doesn’t agree with him. People are worse monsters than the monsters a lot of the time so Zayn is happy to stand apart from them. When his body craves some company, there are people he can pay to give it the attention it needs for the night and then he never has to see them again. 

“Well,” Liam sighs jovially, patting Zayn’s shoulder as he sits down on the bench next to him at their table in the village tavern. “I think I just proved what an asset it is, having me around. The more I sing about your heroics, the more the public is starting to come around to the idea of having a Witcher in their midst.”

Zayn glares at Liam until he takes his hand off of him. “You can sing as many songs as you like, they’ll never change the physical things people see when they look at me, Liam. They’re always gonna see me as the yellow-eyed freak that doesn’t belong.”

Of all the people that Zayn has met, Liam is the only one he’s come to the grudging conclusion is actually worth the space they take up. Not that he’ll ever tell Liam that. He still doesn’t know why he agreed to let Liam travel with him, writing songs about the monsters Zayn slays and trying to make people see witchers as a whole in a better light. Witchers have always been held apart from society, as reviled as mages are revered. As much as Zayn wouldn’t mind if Liam were able to change that for his brethren, he doesn’t really expect it to work. Liam, however, remains ever optimistic. Of course, he gets something out of travelling with Zayn too. The experiences make his songs better, true stories fraught with excitement and danger rather than just stale imaginings. They’re catchy too, though that’s another secret that Zayn will take to the grave.

Before Liam can comment on Zayn’s defeatist attitude, a drink is laid on the table in front of Zayn. 

“I didn’t ask for this,” Zayn says immediately. 

“Sent from a secret admirer,” the woman who brought it tells him with a smirk, hurrying off to continue her duties when he doesn’t respond.

“See?” Liam grins, raising his pint in a salute to his own brilliance and making Zayn roll his eyes fondly. “People are falling in love with your charms already.”

“Hello there,” a low, smooth voice rolls over them like fog over a body of water and Liam immediately loses his smile when he sees who it is. 

“Harry,” he greets drily, drinking his ale and not saying another word to, nor bothering to look at their new companion. 

“Harry,” Zayn echoes the greeting with amusement. Seeing someone as friendly and warm as Liam go cold toward Harry is always entertaining though Zayn isn’t sure exactly what it is that bothers Liam. To be fair, Harry is definitely trouble, Zayn had learned that during certain past… er, _encounters_ . As tempting as he is dangerous, there’s usually some ulterior motive to everything he does, though Zayn does think he _tries_ to help the less fortunate in his quest for world domination. 

“Room for one more?” Harry asks without waiting for an answer before sitting at their table. 

“Is this from you?” Zayn nods at his drink, eyes never leaving Harry’s face. They’ve worked together a few times before but Zayn has never fully trusted him for no other reason than the magic flowing through his veins. Or the seduction he uses to get his way when magic won’t do the trick. Even witchers aren’t immune to everything. 

“It is,” Harry answers, looking Zayn up and down seductively, “and you know there’s so much more where that came from, if you’re up for it.”

“More than a pint of Ale? Ooh, I’m intrigued,” Zayn replies flatly, pushing the pint away from him. “I know better than to accept drinks from mages.”

“Damn right,” Liam mutters beside him behind his own pint. 

“I didn’t even touch it,” Harry grins, eyes sparkling with mischief. He enjoys the fact that Zayn doesn’t trust him. Zayn thinks it might even turn him on, having someone distrust him when the rest of the world is ready to fall at his feet. “I only ordered it brought to you.”

“That doesn’t mean you didn’t have someone put something in it,” Liam cuts in before Zayn can say it. Lately, he seems more and more protective of Zayn, but his vehemence towards Harry is puzzling. Zayn knows that Harry _could_ hurt him, might even enjoy causing him some trouble, but Zayn doubts he’d actually do him any real harm unless, for some reason, they ended up on opposite sides of a fight.

“Please,” Harry rolls his eyes but his lips are still quirked in an arrogant smirk. “I have better things to do than poison the only person capable of helping me in my current quest.”

“And what quest is that?’ Zayn asks with only the vaguest interest. 

“My companion over there,” Harry replies slowly, gesturing back to a table in the corner where a nobleman sits with a dopey smile on his face,” says that there’s a pack of bruxae in Novigrad Forest. They have an ingredient I need for my potions. I thought maybe we could help each other out. He’ll pay you to get rid of them, and I’ll be ever so grateful for your help.” Harry reaches out to Zayn’s hand lying on the table and draws a figure on the back of it with a teasing touch that promises of more. 

“”My god, man,” Liam says, staring back at Harry’s companion and breaking whatever spell he’d cast over Zayn. “What did you do to him?”

Harry glances over his shoulder. “Nothing he didn’t ask for,” he answers with a smirk. “So, what do you say, Witcher? Do we have a deal?”

Zayn stares at Harry, still trying to defog his mind from whatever he’d let Harry do to him. “No,” he decides, rising from the table and pulling Liam up with him. ”It’s time to go.”

Liam agrees immediately, moving to pick up his lute and follow Zayn to the door.

“Zayn,” Harry says, catching Zayn’s wrist but letting it go easily when Zayn pulls it from his grasp. “This is a real job.”

Zayn glares at Harry. “If this was a real job, why would you try to enchant me? Why not just ask?”

“Because it’s important,” Harry replies immediately and there’s none of the swagger or bravado that he usually displays showing on his features. Zayn knows he’s a good actor, but something about his lack of a mask right now feels genuine. 

“Maybe you actually believe it’s real,” Zayn concedes, taking a step closer and pointing to the man back in the corner booth, watching as Harry follows the motion to look at him too. “But if _he_ had seen an actual bruxa, a fucking vampire, in that forest, he wouldn’t be alive to tell about it. They lure and feed off of men. Do you really think a pack of them would have let one get away?”

“ _Handsome_ men,” Harry corrects. “They lure and feed off of handsome men and you know what they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe he didn’t do it for any of them.” He gives a careless shrug, looking back at the man in question. He scrunches his nose as he studies him. “Doesn’t really do anything for me either.”

Zayn snorts. “The answer is still no.”

“Fine,” Harry replies airily, closing the distance between them and whispering in Zayn’s ear . “I’ll just follow you until you give in. Maybe even have a go at your little bard friend.”

“Good luck with that,” Zayn scoffs. “If you even try enchanting him with your magic, I will feed you to a Graveir.”

“They only eat marrow from the bones of dead men,” Harry states, only catching the dangerous glint in Zayn’s eyes after he’s said it. He huffs at the insinuation. “Who says I’ll need magic anyway?”

Zayn smirks at him. “You certainly won’t get far without it.” 

Without waiting for a reply, Zayn turns and walks out of the tavern to meet up with Liam at their horses. It’s probably best to get as far away from Harry as they can before he actually decides to follow. 

*

“Help! They’re after me!” A man calls out, running up to them for help before they’re even an hour outside the village they just left.

“Well, this is convenient,” Zayn mutters to himself as Liam slips off his horse to try and help the man. Zayn nudges his horse forward and grabs Liam’s horse by the reins, keeping a wary eye out for anyone stupid enough to try robbing or ambushing them. Though, he’s 90% certain this is one of Harry’s tricks to get them to help him. 

“What’s going on? Who’s after you?” Liam asks, grabbing the man by the shoulders to try and help him settle down. 

“Some kind of demon woman…. shapeshifter thing?” The frantic man answers as though he’s not entirely certain of what he saw. He’s holding a hand to his neck that he drops as he adds, “She seduced me and then she bit me!”

“Oh my god.” Liam turns to search for something to bandage the man’s neck with. 

Zayn sighs, lowering himself from his horse and catching Liam’s arm in a loose grip. “No need to bandage it.”

“But--”

“It’s not real. We’re hours from Novigrad,” Zayn informs him, looking at the surrounding woods for any sign of life that doesn’t belong. “You can come out, Harry! I’m not falling for it.”

“What are you--?” Liam cuts himself off when Harry steps out of the forest with a playful pout on his face and the image of the distraught man disappears before their eyes. 

“Ruin my fun, why don’t you, Zayn?”

“I assure you, if I thought I could, I would try,” Zayn responds, which only has Harry grinning with a wicked glee.

“I do like you, Zayn,” He purrs, walking closer. 

“I think we could all stand for you to like him a little less,” Liam murmurs grumpily, upset at being duped but it seems amplified by his discomfort at Harry’s presence. “What?” he asks, when he catches Zayn’s questioning stare. “It’s verging on creepy at this point, wouldn’t you say?”

“Oh, don’t worry little bard,” Harry tells him, reaching up to trail his fingertips over Liam’s rugged,unshaven cheek. “I like you, too.”

“ _Eugh_ ,” Liam cringes away, pushing Harry’s hand from his face. “Please don’t say that. Also, I’m not little in any way, shape, or form, thank you very much.”

Harry laughs, head thrown back to show the soft curve of his throat. Zayn is well aware of what he’s doing, everything he does is a lure to draw people to him. “You’re cute,” he tells Liam, seeming to enjoy the face of repulsion that Liam makes in return.

“Can we leave, now?” Liam’s gaze seeks out Zayn.

“No,” Harry answers for him, suddenly the picture of seriousness. “Zayn, you have to help me.”

“And why is that?” Zayn asks, hardly moved to help someone who resorts to trickery at every turn, no matter their past together.

“Because I need you,” Harry states, something guarded in his eyes, “I can’t say more than that, but if your bard’s songs are true, you’ll do it simply for the sake of helping those people, won’t you, Witcher? Or do you use him to spread lies for you?”

“Excuse you--” Liam starts but Zayn speaks over him. 

“He’s not mine. He is his own person with his own mind. Not all of us need to possess anyone who treats us to a kind word or a soft touch,” Zayn grits out, old grudges staining his words with anger.

Harry sighs, rolling his eyes. “Is _that_ what this is about? I was young and new to the world of magic, Zayn. And for some unfathomable reason, I believed that we could be soulmates.”

“Soulmates don’t exist, Harry,” Zayn says tiredly. He’s been holding on to his anger about this for far too long. 

Harry’s already shaking his head at Zayn’s comment. “I don’t believe that,” he argues, “and I don’t believe that you do either.”

Zayn meets his determined stare. “Even if they did, they wouldn’t need to be forced to stay together.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Harry tells him, but he doesn’t meet his eyes when he says it, so Zayn believes he’s won on this particular point. 

“What _the fuck_ is going on?” Liam questions quietly off to the side of the argument. 

“It’s a long story but the moral is, if you ever get the chance, don’t use a djinn to try and force someone to be with you,” Zayn answers, walking over to his horse and mounting it. 

“That wasn’t what I--”

Zayn cuts Harry off with an angry glare. “Is there really a pack of bruxae in Novigrad forest?”

“Yes.”

“Then, we’ll help you, but I want something out of this deal too, and I don’t mean coin,” Zayn informs him. 

“Name your price,” Harry answers solemnly, clearly ready to give Zayn anything he asks for. Which means this quest actually means something to him. It really is important.

Zayn studies Harry. He’s offering anything but he stands there closed off, chin raised in stubborn determination. “Honesty,” Zayn answers. “From this moment until the task is finished, I want complete and total honesty. Any question I ask will be answered, no lies, no omissions.”

Harry blinks, faltering at the unexpected request but nods his head once in agreement. “Fine.”

“ _Some_ coin would be nice too,” Liam tries but Harry snorts at the comment. 

“Honesty was what your witcher asked for, honesty is what he’ll be paid. _You_ I don’t need,” Harry replies, calling his horse from where he’d left her waiting in the trees. He climbs on, riding up next to Zayn. “How will you know if I lie?” 

“Are you trying to tell me that you don’t have a Bittersweet potion in your bag of tricks,” Zayn asks with a raised eye-brow, reaching over to flick the strap of Harry’s satchel with one finger.

“You know far too much about magic,” Harry frowns, grudgingly reaching into his bag to pull out a small potion bottle full of violet liquid that has a golden tinge to it in a certain light. Harry pulls the stopper off the top of the bottle and holds it out to Zayn. “You first.”

Zayn leans away from the bottle. “What are you talking about? That’s not the deal.” 

“Ahh, so he doesn’t know everything,” Harry grins. “You drink first, just a swallow, and then I drink the rest. It binds me so that I only have to answer to you. Trust me, you don’t want me telling _everyone_ the truth.”

Zayn takes the bottle, eyeing it distastefully. “If this is another trick…”

“If it’s another trick, I have all these sharp weapons I’m carrying for Zayn and I know how to use…” Liam pauses in his threat to look around at his saddlebags, trying to remember which weapons he’s carrying and if he can in fact use them. He frowns, “...some of them.”

“Down, Puppy,” Harry laughs, not intimidated in the slightest. “It’s not a trick.”

 _‘Puppy?’_ Liam mouths incredulously at Zayn, glowering adorably when Zayn only smirks in reply before taking a sip of the potion. 

“See? No harm done,” Harry smiles, taking the bottle from him and downing the rest. He makes a face at the bitter aftertaste, and then replaces the stopper and stores the empty bottle in his bag, looking back at Zayn as he starts his horse in motion. They probably should get a move on. “Okay, try it. Ask me something.”

“Are there really bruxae in Novigrad forest?”

Harry sighs heavily. “For the last time, yes!”

“How do you know?”

“I did my research. A halfling named Brean Hotsch runs a logging operation in the northern half of the wood. So far, six of his men have gone missing,” Harry explains, ignoring Liam sidling up next to them on his white horse. 

“Okay, but that forest is pretty ancient. It would more likely be a leshen killing them,” Zayn argues, though he’s speaking to himself more than Harry as his mind starts trying to figure out what he needs to kill the beast. 

“Uh, excuse me?” Liam raises his hand to try and get their full attention. “Not really fond of being invisible. And also, what the hell is a leshen?”

“Ancient forest spirit,” Harry and Zayn tell him in unison.

“Oh yay, they’re becoming one person,” Liam utters sarcastically, suddenly ready to have this quest done already. 

“It’s not a leshen though,” Harry tells Zayn. “Another witcher, uhh...Vesisomething…

“Vesemir?” Zayn asks.

“Yeah, he killed the leshen that was there last year. And besides, when I spoke to Brean, he said something that caught my attention. He grumbled something about ‘only the ones with the ugliest mugs come back’. To me, that says bruxae,” Harry finishes with a shrug.

“So… you haven’t actually seen any or anyone who has?” Zayn concludes with a disapproving frown.

“Not exactly, no,” Harry grimaces. “Come on, look at me! I didn’t want to get eaten!”

“But you wanna send Zayn in there?” Liam asks before his brain can catch up with his mouth. “Uh, I mean. I know he’s fully capable but isn’t he your… sort of, friend?”

Harry smirks at Liam, a knowing look in his eye. “Oh I think we’re more than friends, aren’t we, Zayn?”

“You’re lucky I haven’t killed you yet,” Zayn replies, urging his horse to move faster. “Whatever we were before, we’re not that anymore.”

Harry lets Zayn move ahead of him, he knows he messed up in the past and that Zayn still isn’t completely over it but he wishes Zayn would let him explain what actually happened. 

“Wait,” Harry stops Liam when he moves to speed up too and catch up to Zayn. “Give him a moment.”

“What, you think you know him better than I do?” Liam questions with the green tinge of jealousy in his eyes. 

“Yes,” Harry answers plainly. “I probably know him better than anyone. And I’m not saying that to hurt you, I’m saying it so that hopefully you’ll _listen_.”

Liam bites his tongue and he’s obviously not happy about it but he doesn’t pull ahead. After a moment of travelling in silence, he asks quietly. “Why would you think it would hurt me? Why should I care about your past?”

“Let me answer you question with a question,” Harry responds, following Zayn’s horse as it turns them onto a road that leads through the forest, Harry trusts that he knows where he’s going. He studies Liam for a moment before asking, “Why do you travel with him?”

“To experience what he experiences in order to write better songs and hope that they change the way people view witchers,” LIam answers quickly and it’s true, but the words feel stale even as they leave his mouth. 

“No, I know that’s why you started but you’ve been with him for a while, right? Even I’ve heard stories about the great witcher Zayn and the bard that follows him everywhere he goes all the way over in Vengerberg. So, you have to have plenty of tales of his heroics to sing about, why do you stay? You could settle down in some village where no one’s ever actually seen a witcher and sing your songs and regale people with your stories, become a big fish in a small pond,” Harry enthuses, pulling Liam into the fantasy but it doesn’t hold him. 

“I don’t care about that,” Liam shakes his head. “I don’t want to be a fish in anyone’s pond, I just want to be--” he stops short at what he was about to say, pulling his horse to a stop as well. 

“ _With him_ ,” Harry finishes for him, stopping too. “You just want to be with him.”

“I--” Liam doesn’t finish whatever he was about to say because he doesn’t know what he was about to say. 

“You coming?” Zayn calls back to them when he notices they’ve stopped.

“Not until you tell me to, darling,” Harry shouts back with a grin.

Zayn shakes his head and carries on, not feigning to wait for them. 

“Kindly stop doing that,” Liam says, nudging his horse to move again. 

“Stop doing what?” Harry asks innocently, pulling up beside him once more.

“If you know how I feel about him, then quit throwing yourself at him right in front of me,” Liam hisses. 

“Well…,” Harry hums, urging his horse closer to Liam’s. “I could always throw myself at you instead.”

“Eugh,” Liam shudders, moving to catch up to Zayn with Harry’s laughter beating at his back.

*

Several hours on horseback and a boat ride later find them at Novigrad forest, on the western edge of Grassy Knoll, an island south of Novigrad. They camp on the edge of the woods, not wanting to go too deep before they have a plan. 

As they settle into the quiet of the night after supper, Harry sits next to Zayn by the fire. “Hey, Zayn. How did you know my glamour was a ruse? Was it just how far we were from where I said the pack was, or was there something else? ”

Zayn smirks, looking into the fire as he speaks. “Even with all your research, you kept underestimating the bruxae. They don’t just lure away men to feed on. They lure away lovers to keep feeding from, that’s why all the men they take are ‘handsome’. So, your wounded man wouldn’t have gotten away.”

“Oh,” Harry says, looking down at his hands. Zayn follows his gaze. They look different now than the image of them in Zayn’s memory, bigger, more sure. They look more like the hands of a stranger, rather than a lover. 

“They also have this shriek that can knock a man to the ground. But most people who’ve heard it, wouldn’t have lived to record it in your research books,” Zayn adds, looking off into the darkness.

“You’ve dealt with them before,” Harry guesses. “Is that why you didn’t want to come? Are they hard to kill?”

“Very. They can also become invisible,” Zayn answers, and when Harry follows his gaze, he realizes that Zayn isn’t looking into the forest as he had thought. He’s watching Liam play his lute on his bedroll, working on a new song as he writes and scribbles out and rewrites lyrics.

“Ah,” Harry sighs knowingly. “You didn’t want him to come. You didn’t want to put him in danger.”

“I’m always putting him in danger,” Zayn tries to argue, looking away abruptly. “This is no different.”

“I think it is,” Harry disagrees. “I make it different. Me being here.”

“Why would that matter?” Zayn asks but he stands up and walks off before Harry can give him an answer he’s not ready for. 

“Because you’re afraid of knowing what it means that you care for him more than you ever did for me,” Harry is compelled to answer even if Zayn isn’t there to hear it. Plus, _someone_ needs to say it, because neither of these idiots are going to admit anything any time soon. 

*

“You alright?” Liam asks, walking up behind Zayn where he’s looking out at a moonlit sea. 

“Mm,” Zayn grunts in assent, turning his head to check on Liam. “You?”

“I was until you left me alone with Harry,” Liam answers, making a disgusted face. “He tried to lay down on my bedroll with me.”

Zayn chuckles at the image, knowing that the squeal he’d thought was some small animal a moment ago must have been Liam fighting off a frolicsome mage. “He only does it to annoy you, you know.”

“Is that why he flirts with you all the time?” The tone of Liam’s voice suggests that he already doesn’t believe it to be true no matter what Zayn has to say on the matter.

“No,” Zayn answers thoughtfully. “I’m not sure why he does it, but I’d wager it has something to do with whatever he’s hiding.”

“How do you know he’s hiding something?”

“Trust me,” Zayn says grimly, “Harry is always hiding something.” 

“So, why don’t you ask about it?” Liam wonders. “He’d have no choice but to answer you.”

Zayn takes a minute with that question, before turning to Liam.   
“Some of us need our secrets,” he answers and he can tell that Liam doesn’t like it but it’s the only answer that Zayn has right now. He needs his secret, needs to hold it close to his chest and keep it safe. If anything happened to it, it would kill him or, at the very worst, break him. And deep down he knows that if that happens, he’ll break the world in return. So he’ll let Harry keep his secret for now. He understands the need for them better than anyone. “Come on,” he nudges Liam. “We should get some sleep.”

*

Something crackling nearby wakes Zayn while the moon is still high in the sky. He blinks his eyes open, looking toward the fire pit, expecting the embers to have burned back to life but the pit is dark, all signs of fire extinguished. 

Sitting up, Zayn takes a slower, more careful look around. His eyes stop on Liam’s empty bedroll and his heart stutters in his chest at the sight of it. 

“Liam?” he calls out, hoping he’ll get an answer. Maybe he went in search of a tree to piss on in private, though Zayn warned him before they went to sleep, not to go far from their camp if he awoke in the middle of the night. “LIAM,” he shouts when he gets no answer the first time. 

“God, at least have the decency to have quiet sex dreams,” Harry mutters grouchily, rolling over to try and go back to sleep.

Zayn stalks to his bedroll and pulls him up to a sitting position by the fabric of his fancy cloak. “Liam is missing. Wake the fuck up.”

“ _Alright_ ,” Harry frowns, knocking Zayn’s hand loose from his cloak and moving to stand next to him and try to see where Liam could have gone. “Sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Don’t be sorry, be ready,” Zayn replies, making sure he has his silver sword in the sheath across his back. It’s one of the only things that can kill a bruxa. Well, that and fire, which shouldn’t be a problem. Witchers have the ability to cast one-handed spells. The fiery anger Zayn is feeling should help him cast a powerful Igni sign should the situation arise. 

“Here,” Harry says, holding out a potion bottle to him that he’s just dug out of his satchel. 

“What is it?” Zayn asks even as he reaches for the bottle. 

“De Vries’ Extract,” Harry answers. “It enhances night vision and makes concealed things visible.”

Zayn looks down at the bottle in his hand and looks back at Harry. “You think it could work against their invisibility?” 

“I don’t know,” Harry responds, looking unsure. “I think it’s more for things hidden inside or behind something but it can’t hurt to try.”

Zayn nods, drinking the potion quickly. He can feel it as his body absorbs the liquid, knows that his eyes will be black for a few moments but he relishes the idea of looking fearsome for once in his life. “Let’s go find Liam.”

*

“Do you hear that?” Harry asks, hearing the shrill song of the bruxa calling out somewhere deeper into the forest.

“Their song is how they manipulate human men. Unless you have some way to ward against it, cover your ears,” Zayn orders.

“ _That’s_ how they manipulate men?” Harry asks, making a face of disbelief before casting a spell on his ears to block out the sound. “What about you?”

“I’m not entirely human,” Zayn reminds him. “I’ll be fine.”

Soon enough they catch up to the bruxa in question trying to lure Liam to her lair so that she can feed from him in relative safety. He moves like the undead, lumbering forward, enspelled by her song.

“Lichiul, mini fraucni cacla (Come, my sweet servant)” she sings to him. 

“Hic thau mini cama (That is my love),” Zayn informs her in her own language, stepping out of the shadows.

She has the gall to laugh as she reaches out a clawed hand to grip Liam’s, pulling him closer to her. “Mini cama thui (My love now),” she taunts.

“Ei ipa mi spelth thi (not if I kill you).” Zayn pulls out his silver sword. This bitch is going to die bloody. 

“Mlach afr. Mine cau streta un (Good luck. We are ready for you),” she says, right about the time Harry taps on his shoulder.

“Uh, Zayn.” He points to where two more bruxae are walking out from the lair. Oh joy, they must have stumbled upon the pack nest already. 

“I see them. I’ll protect you, you protect Liam,” Zayn orders but Harry has a different plan.

“You protect you. I’ll protect Liam,” he counters.

“Ready for this?” Zayn asks, turning to check on Harry.

Harry smirks at him. “I’m always ready for trouble.”

Everything happens at once. Zayn casts a Quen sign that forms a protective shield around himself just as the bruxa holding Liam hostage shrieks, trying to knock Zayn off his feet. At the same time, Harry opens a portal and jumps through, opening another portal right next to one of the other bruxae and casting Aenye to set her on fire before he disappears back into the portal he just came through.

“What? What happened?” Liam asks, slowly coming out of the spell he was under as the two not-on-fire bruxae run at Zayn with uncanny speed, their claws breaching his shield easily. It was really only meant to protect from their shrieks anyway. 

Zayn fights off one set of claws with his sword, casting his Igni sign with his free hand and sending fire shooting from his palm toward the other bruxa. The fire hurts her but doesn’t kill her and Zayn casts Aard, another sign. This knocks down both bruxae long enough for Zayn to run his silver sword through one of them, killing her and giving him a chance to breathe for a second before the other one is jumping at him again. 

Zayn can’t pay attention to Liam and fight but he’s trusting that Harry will keep up his end of the bargain and protect him for the time being. Hopefully, there were only three in this pack but there could be other bruxae out hunting or still inside the lair. The sharp sting of claws raking across his chest wipes the worry from Zayn’s mind and makes him focus on the creature in front of him. 

He can hear voices but can’t focus on them as the bruxa swings at him again and he has to parry with his sword. He casts Igni again but the bruxa dances out of reach of the flames, flitting close again on his right side and taking another swipe at him. It’s a shame really, he was rather fond of the shirt he’s only half wearing now.

“Hey, you undead succubus,” Liam shouts, running the bruxa through from behind. “How do you like me now?”

She can’t answer, already dead as she falls to the ground. 

Zayn is so proud. And so in love as he stands there watching the human he absolutely cannot live without smile at him like an idiot and raise his eyebrows repeatedly in some ridiculous, wordless request for praise.

“You know she’s not a--”

“Yes, I know she’s not a succubus,” Liam rolls his eyes, giving up on waiting for Zayn to tell him how awesome he is. “Excuse me for not having a witty quip at the ready, I’m not usually the hero in these tales.”

“You are this time though,” Zayn tells him with a smirk, reaching out to pat him on the shoulder.

“I am, huh?” Liam smiles. 

“Hey where did the second silver sword come from?” Zayn asks, paying no attention to the fuzziness that’s slowly crowding the edges of his vision. 

“Once I found out that Harry could open portals, I sent him back to the horses to get it,” Liam explains. “Why didn’t we just take a portal here in the first place? Would have saved so much time.”

“I’ve taken care of the two bruxae that were still in the lair,” Harry says, stepping out of a portal next to Liam. “You’re welcome.”

“This was your mission, why are we the ones who need to thank you?” Zayn snorts, taking a step back toward their camp and stumbling, falling down to his knees. 

“Whoa, hey,” Liam reacts, bending to help him stand again and noticing just how much Zayn is still bleeding. “These are deep,” he says worriedly, “ _really_ deep.”

“I’ll be fi--” Zayn tries to assure him before the blackness in his vision becomes total and he passes out from blood loss.

*

“Stop pacing,” Harry’s voice says in a bored tone. “I’ve used my strongest poultice, he’ll be fine.”

“His insides were almost on the outside, excuse me if I’m a little worried that the man I’m in love with might die before I can even tell him how I feel,” Zayn hears Liam say, and he’s almost certain that he _has_ died. Liam loves him too? He tries to open his eyes but can’t. They won’t budge even a little. And neither will any other part of his body. Well, that’s annoying.

“Oh, are you actually planning on saying something or will you just go back to being a pining idiot when he wakes up?” Harry retorts in irritation. 

“What do you even care?” Liam questions, getting very quiet when he asks. “Do you still love him?”

“No,” Harry answers, taking a breath before adding, “I’m not sure I ever really did. Not now that I--”

“Now that you what?” Liam prods when Harry cuts himself off. 

Harry doesn’t answer immediately and for a second, Zayn thinks that maybe he won’t. Maybe this is the secret he’s been holding so close. Maybe he’s not ready to have it known.

“Now that I do love someone. With all my heart,” Harry sniffs, giving Zayn the impression that he’s crying. “My soulmate. He’s the reason for all this. The ingredient I needed to find was the neazan salts you can only find in the corpses of bruxae and one other creature. They’re for a poultice for him.”

“A poultice?” Liam asks, sounding hesitant and Zayn can guess why. He knows Liam is wondering the same thing he is, if this whole quest went to waste so that he could fix Zayn.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t need the salts for Zayn,” Harry answers their unspoken question. “No, this is a different kind of poultice, it eats at sickness.” Harry’s voice is strained as he adds, “there’s no guarantee that it’ll cure him, but I think we stand a good chance.”

Zayn has never been good with emotions not pertaining to anger and he feels his body tensing up in discomfort. Which… is certainly something. Maybe if he concentrates, he can open his eyes sooner rather than later. 

“Oh,” Liam says softly, and Zayn hears the sounds of cloth shuffling around, like Liam has sat down, perhaps even next to Harry. He sounds closer to him when he says, “Tell me about him?”

Harry laughs, sniffing again. “All this time I did my best to keep him a secret and here I am telling that secret to a person who doesn’t even like me.”

“Why try to keep him a secret?” Liam asks, not addressing the other part of Harry’s statement. 

“I’ve made a lot of enemies as a mage. People jealous that I’m more powerful, or have more control than them. People who I’ve used to get what I want,” he pauses. “People who’ve misconstrued my actions but are too stubborn to let me explain.”

“He is stubborn, isn’t he?” Liam laughs, well aware of who that last description was about. Stubborn is certainly coming in handy now as Zayn tries to make his mouth move and has a small amount of success right away. He’d probably look ridiculous right now if anyone was looking. 

“Yeah, well. He’s your stubborn problem now,” Harry jokes before getting back to the point. “But yeah, I have a lot of enemies, and if this poultice works, I don’t want anyone hurting him to try and hurt me. If they knew how much I cared, if they knew he was the _only_ thing I cared about, they wouldn’t hesitate to go after him.”

“So that’s why you flirt with literally everyone,” Liam concludes. “To hide that you don’t want anyone but him. Makes sense.”

“I’m glad you approve,” Harry chuckles. “Also, sorry for…, you know, coming on to you… and Zayn. Multiple times.”

“It’s fine. I’m just glad there weren’t still feelings involved for Zayn. He could have gotten hurt if he still felt something for you. I mean, maybe he does. I don’t even know,” Liam ponders. 

“No,” Harry says immediately. “I don’t know what he may have felt for me in the past, but there’s nothing there now.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“You know that djinn he’s so mad about?” 

“Yeah?”

“He thinks I wished for the djinn to bind us together or some shit, that I was trying to keep him as a possession to show off and take away his choice to be with whoever he wanted. But that’s not what I wished for,” Harry tells Liam but Zayn is listening intently to every word as he slowly manages to pry one eye open. “I was so young and new to magic and my head was filled with romantic notions like destiny and soulmates. My first two wishes were wasted on frivolous things but my last one was the one that really mattered. I don’t even know how I worded it, but Zayn heard something completely different than what I said.”

“What did you say?” Liam asks, as impatient to hear Harry’s wish for the first time as Zayn is to hear it for the second time. 

Zayn’s mouth doesn’t feel as stiff now, so he works with that next, trying to open it even the slightest bit.

“I wished for us to both always have the love that we deserved,” Harry answers. “I thought we’d be giving it to each other, but I think we’re probably both grateful I was wrong. Louis is…,he's everything to me. And I won’t presume to speak for Zayn but--”

“No, that’s a good place to stop,” Zayn says slowly, not entirely sure that the words came out quite the way he wanted them to, but he can’t be bothered to care when he has a very relieved bard hugging his neck.

“You’re okay,” Liam breathes into his neck, holding him tight and Zayn wishes he could move his arms to hug him back but he hasn’t gotten that far.

“I can’t move my arms,” he says when Liam releases him, partially seeking an answer as to why and partially so that Liam doesn’t feel badly that Zayn didn’t return the embrace.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Harry says giving Zayn another of his wicked smirks as he admits, “my strongest poultice contains a mild paralytic to make sure it has time to work properly.”

“You call this _mild?_ ”

“For a witcher,” Harry chuckles.

“How are you feeling?” 

“Numb,” Zayn replies drily.

Liam fusses over him, doing everything for him until he’s got full control of his body again and even then Zayn has to pull him to the side and assure him that he’s fine.

“You scared me,” Liam admits, stilling under the warm, steadying hands Zayn is holding his arms with. “Even after travelling together all this time, I think that’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to seeing you die.”

“Well, I didn’t die,” Zayn reminds him, brushing a windblown strand of hair out of his face. “I’m right here and I’m fine.”

Liam’s eyes meet his and Zayn can see that there are unshed tears in them. “I don’t know what I’d do if you died.”

“Probably die next,” Zayn jokes and immediately wants to smack himself. He really is terrible at emotions. 

“Fuck off,” Liam laughs despite himself. “I’m trying to say something important here.”

“I know.”

Liam watches him warily after he says that. “Are you going to leave if I say it?”

“Not on your life,” Zayn promises. 

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.” 

It feels like a breath of relief when Zayn says it. He’s been holding that in for a long time, almost since the day he met a plucky little bard in a tavern who just wanted to experience the world in his songs. It feels amazing to have it out in the open. 

But nothing feels as amazing as Liam’s lips when they capture his in a soft, sweet kiss. Or when he deepens the kiss, pulling Zayn flush against his body like he can’t get enough of him. 

“Oi, lovebirds,” Harry yells at them from where he’s packing up his stuff. “This is why you should be thanking me. And you’re welcome!”

“Go save your soulmate,” Zayn calls to Harry, both of them smiling because maybe he’s finally coming around to the idea that soulmates could possibly exist. And maybe his own is right here in his arms. 

He’s willing to accept the possibility anyway. With Liam by his side, anything seems possible.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed my first foray into Ziam territory.


End file.
